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A new year offers a clean slate — a chance to celebrate achievements, assess the challenges of the past and start the new year with fresh energy.

Our biggest achievement in 2018 was the launch of Valley Clean Energy (VCE), our local public electricity program. With years of planning and lots of community support, we officially started serving the cities of Woodland and Davis and unincorporated Yolo County last June. Over the last 6 months VCE has been providing greener energy, customer choice, local control and reinvestment in the community.)

VCE’s standard portfolio of electricity includes 42 percent renewable energy, compared to 33 percent provided by PG&E. This allows VCE customers to help our region and our state take a big step toward changing our fossil fuel-based economy.

Another notable achievement in 2018 was the VCE partnership with Davis, Woodland and Yolo County to apply for a $2.9 million grant from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), which we ultimately received. The grant will provide dozens of new, publicly available electric vehicle chargers and lay the foundation for electric vehicle charging and lower carbon transportation options in the region.

Although 2018 was a banner year for the effort to bring local energy control to Yolo County, we also faced significant headwinds from State regulators. Due to decisions by the California Public Utilities Commission that favored investor owned utilities like PG&E, and requirements from the California Energy Commission, VCE took a $4.7 million hit to our young program’s budget, leaving us with many difficult choices — one of which was the decision to delay the enrollment of existing solar customers.

Since both of us are solar customers, we were disappointed that we could not sign up right away for the local energy program we help run. But as board members we understand that this delay is simply a bump in the road on a long journey toward completely renewable, more affordable electricity. We also understand why some folks may be unhappy about the delay of enrolling solar customers, but the VCE board’s difficult decision was made with the long-term good of the program in mind.

Despite these challenges we are reminded that our communities launched Valley Clean Energy last summer to bring cleaner energy at competitive rates to local residents and businesses while reinvesting earnings into our economy by creating local green energy programs and projects.

We have been successful in taking the important first steps toward these goals because VCE is accountable to the communities it serves, not to shareholders. VCE offers choice, local governance and transparency — everything local energy customers have sought for years.

One of the tangible, immediate impacts of our local energy program is the fact that VCE customers are reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by automatically receiving a higher percentage of renewable electricity than that provided by PG&E, and they can up the ante by choosing that 100% of their power come from renewables for a small premium. We are proud that VCE customers are each doing their small part to help California avoid the growing consequences of climate change like the tragic wildfires of 2017 and 2018 that devastated our sister communities in northern California.

VCE’s customers are joined in these efforts by the 18 other CCE programs which are already serving more than 8 million customers in more than 160 communities across California. Dozens more communities are recognizing the benefits of taking local control of their energy futures and are lining up to form or join CCE programs. We encourage and welcome them to this energy renaissance that is challenging the old ideas that clearly no longer serve the best interests of our communities.

With Valley Clean Energy, we’ve taken a big step toward a more sustainable future. As solar customers ourselves, we’re willing to wait another year to join the program, knowing we’re already doing our part for renewable energy.

Because VCE is in the business of delivering value to the customers and communities we serve instead of shareholders and Wall Street, we have the advantage of being able to take the long view. As we reflect on 2018 we are reminded that the success of our community choice energy program is our higher priority because it is poised to deliver decades of value to our communities.

—Tom Stallard is a Woodland City Council member and board chair of Valley Clean Energy. Don Saylor is a Yolo County supervisor and a member of the VCE board. To learn more about Valley Clean Energy, visit valleycleanenergy.org or email customerservice@valleycleanenergy.org.

In a disappointing decision, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently voted to approve increases to the “exit fees” charged to Valley Clean Energy (VCE) customers by PG&E. Valley Clean Energy is our official locally governed electricity provider, bringing cleaner energy at competitive rates to Davis, Woodland, and unincorporated Yolo County. It began serving 55,000 customer accounts this past June.

The decision by the CPUC to raise the exit fee affects all 19 community choice aggregation (CCA) programs in the state, including VCE.)

The exit fee is called the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment, and if you are a VCE customer, you will see it on your PG&E bill. This fee is charged by each of the utilities to all CCA customers to compensate for electricity generation they built or contracted for in past years.

Valley Clean Energy believes a reasonable exit fee is fair as long as these costs are shared equitably by all PG&E and CCA generation customers. Unfortunately, we don’t find this recent ruling by the CPUC to be fair. It over-compensates PG&E for past investments and leaves out reasonable cost-control measures that would hold the utility accountable for its past business decisions. Not only did the CPUC allow the utilities to include these costs in the exit fee, they did so before even considering whether they were reasonable. What is even more puzzling is why the CPUC took this action against the advice of their own expert Administrative Law Judge who had studied the issue for a year and held extensive hearings where evidence was provided by all sides—including representatives for VCE.

The end result of the CPUC ruling is an exit fee formula that will increase the amount of money PG&E will get from CCA customers by tens of millions of dollars in 2019 alone. The scale of the new fees and the lack of effort by the CPUC to mitigate costs mean that CCAs are facing significant financial challenges—with parallel threats to California’s renewable energy goals— despite having lower overhead costs than the investor owned utilities.

Valley Clean Energy’s share of the additional annual exit fee costs in 2019 are about $3.5 million dollars. This financial hit has forced your VCE Board of Directors to make some challenging decisions to help manage program costs wisely while meeting VCE’s long-term goals of service to the communities it serves. Those difficult decisions include staffing cost reductions, delaying enrollment of solar customers, and adjusting electricity rates to be at parity with PG&E’s prices.

It’s disappointing to make these program adjustments so early in the game, but take heart — there are experienced industry organizations, lobbying groups, and 19 CCA programs across the state representing over 160 cities and counties that are fighting hard to reverse this decision. Should we succeed, VCE will act quickly to reinstate the customer advantages that were originally offered.

In the meantime, remember that VCE is a not-for-profit public energy program that has been created by our communities to benefit all of us. VCE, together with the other CCA programs operating successfully across the state of California, are already saving their customers millions of dollars a year, reducing greenhouse gas production by tens of millions of tons, and creating jobs as they contract for and build renewable energy facilities in California.

California CCA’s are buying and building renewable energy faster than any other type of electric provider in the State, but changing the status quo in a fossil fuel-based economy is a pretty big deal—nobody said it was going to be easy. And even though our growing pains have set in earlier than we would have liked, VCE’s dedication to comprehensive community benefits remains, including:

• Local control: The VCE board — composed of elected officials from Davis, Yolo County and Woodland — make decisions with the benefit of their constituents in mind as opposed to Wall Street. We welcome your opinions at our public meetings. Consider joining us when you can.
• Energy choice: VCE ends the electricity monopoly, offering a choice of electricitygeneration providers and an option to opt up to 100% renewable energy, or to opt out.
• Sustainability: VCE provides higher levels of renewable energy. Our current portfolio is 42% renewable compared to 33% for PG&E. We will strive to go higher in the years ahead.
• Reinvestment in the community: Net revenues will be reinvested in the community in the form of energy projects and programs, including local renewable generation, energy storage, electric vehicle infrastructure, and/or energy efficiency.
• Competitive rates: We strive to be competitive with the electricity-generation rates offered by PG&E.

The latest update on PG&E’s “exit fee” will be discussed at Valley Clean Energy’s next Board meeting, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, in the Community Chambers at Davis City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd. Unlike the investor owned utilities, our Board meetings are public – you’re welcome to attend.

Regular Board meetings are on the second Thursday of the month from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The meeting location alternates between Davis City Hall and the Woodland City Council Chambers, 300 First St. in Woodland.

Please visit our website for additional information at valleycleanenergy.org.